Sleep: A pathway linking personality to mortality risk

Personality and sleep predict longevity; however, no investigation has tested whether sleep mediates this association. Thus, we tested this effect across a 20-year follow-up (N = 3759) in the Midlife Development in the United States cohort (baseline M_age = 47.15) using proportional hazards in a structural equation modeling framework. Lower conscientiousness predicted increased death risk via the direct, indirect, and total effect of quadratic sleep duration. Although there were no other direct personality-mortality effects, higher neuroticism and agreeableness and lower conscientiousness predicted increased death risk via the joint indirect effects of quadratic sleep duration and higher daytime dysfunction. Lower extraversion predicted increased mortality risk via the indirect effect of daytime dysfunction. Our findings have implications for personality-based health interventions.     

Screen use before bedtime: Consequences for nighttime sleep in young children

There is increasing interest in the relation between screen use and sleep problems in early childhood. In a sample of 30-month-old children, this study used observational measures of screen use during the hour or so leading up to bedtime, parent reports of screen use during the child’s bedtime routine, and actigraphic measures of toddler sleep to complement parent-reported sleep problems. Whether screen use was observed during the pre-bedtime period or was reported by the parents as part of the nightly bedtime routine, greater screen use in either context was associated with more parent-reported sleep problems. Additionally, more frequent parent-reported screen use during the bedtime routine was also associated with actigraphic measures of later sleep, shorter sleep, and more night-to-night variability in duration and timing of sleep. These associations suggest the negative consequences of screen use for children’s sleep extend both to aspects of sleep reported by parents (e.g., bedtime resistance, signaled awakenings) and to aspects measured by actigraphy (e.g., shorter and more variable sleep).     

Emotional and behavioural features of preschool children born by Caesarean deliveries at maternal request

Background: Caesarean deliveries at maternal request (CDMRs) are becoming increasingly common. There is still lack of evidence on potential postponed effect(s) of CDMRs on children's emotional and behavioural features, although such a possibility has been repeatedly postulated. This study aimed at evaluation of the emotional and behavioural characteristics in preschool children born from CDMRs. Methods: The study involved apparently healthy 5-year-old children from the community setting (40 born from CDMRs and 40 age and sex matched vaginally born controls). Inclusion criteria were: first-born singletons, delivery at term, the only children in families, married parents, and appropriate household conditions, absence of any inborn abnormalities, disabilities, chronic and progressive diseases. Children attended preschool day-care centres at the time of the study. The mothers were also presented with the Child Behaviour Checklist for Ages 1.5–5 years (CBCL1.5/5) aimed at assessing children's emotional and behavioural characteristics. Results: Children born from CDMRs presented with significantly higher values (more problems) on the following empirically based scales: anxiety/depression, withdrawal and sleep problems. They had statistically significantly higher values on so-called internalizing problems, both in girls and in boys. Associations remained significant after adjustment for major potential confounders. Conclusion: Children born from CDMRs may face more emotional disturbances and sleep problems at preschool age.     

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征导致高血压的机制

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征是重要的继发性高血压病因之一,该综合征导致血压增高的原因主要有睡眠分裂、频繁的低氧血症和高碳酸血症导致的高交感神经兴奋,呼吸暂停发生时胸腔负压的增加和回心血量的增加以及内分泌功能的失调如醛固酮的高分泌,超重肥胖和慢性非特异性炎症反应的参与,是多种升压机制共同参与的结果.     

论西方心理学发展中的几种对立倾向

论述了西方心理学发展中存在的三种对立倾向：１．应用心理学（主要指临床心理学）与学术心理学,其对立的根源在于两种科学观和两种文化观的冲突;２．趋向团结、整合,形成统一的心理学的力量和发展方向的向心倾向与分化、分离、多样化、多元化,使心理学丧失核心或处于破碎状态的力量和发展方向的离心倾向;３．主张心理学应正视离心力的危害,强调寻求统一的理论框架的统合观点与认为心理学的统合既不可能也无必要的非统合观点。作者认为,应辩证地看待离心力的意义,在实现心理学统一的步调上不能操之过急。     

有关西方心理学分裂与整合问题的再思考

在心理学的分裂与整合问题上 ,西方心理学家一直争论不休。该文认为 ,心理学的确存在着分裂的危机 ,因为心理学至今没有一个共同的基础和出发点 ,且心理学的分化导致了心理学机构解体的危机。但是心理学内部各种矛盾冲突的观点是可比的 ,可公约的 ,因此整合是有希望的。在迈向整合的过程中 ,主要存在着两个障碍 ,其一是客观主义 ,客观主义力主以自然科学为楷模 ,通过严格客观方法的应用 ,实现心理学的大一统。客观主义由于压抑了不同的声音 ,阻碍了对话 ,给心理学的整合造成障碍。其二是相对主义 ,相对主义在“怎么都行”原则的指导下 ,认为任何一种理论观点和思想方法相对于它所产生的背景都是正确的、合理的 ,没有任何外在于话语群体的标准作为最终的尺度。相对主义的观点导致了理论观点和思想方法的无原则多元化 ,使得西方心理学分裂危机进一步加深。该文主张心理学的整合应该是在一个共同基础上的多元化的整合 ,即允许多元化和多样性成分的存在 ,但不同成分之间是互补的 ,而不是冲突的     

Insomniacs' reported use of CBT components and relationship to long-term clinical outcome.

Although there is considerable evidence for the efficacy of non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia, many of the larger trials have delivered CBT in multicomponent format. This makes it impossible to identify critical ingredients responsible for improvement. Furthermore, compliance with home implementation is difficult to ascertain in psychological therapies, and even more so when trying to differentiate across a range of elements. In the present report, 90 patients who had completed 12 month follow-up after participation in a clinical effectiveness study of CBT in general medical practice, responded to a questionnaire asking them about their use of the ten components of the programme. Reports of home use were then entered as predictors of clinical response to treatment. Results indicated that reported home use of stimulus control/sleep restriction was the best predictor of clinical improvement in sleep latency and nighttime wakefulness. Cognitive restructuring also contributed significantly to reduction in wakefulness. In spite of being the most highly endorsed component (by 79% of respondents) use of relaxation did not predict improvement on any variable. Similarly, sleep hygiene was unrelated to sleep pattern change and use of imagery training was modestly predictive of poor response in terms of sleep latency. There are methodological limitations to this type of post hoc analysis, nevertheless, these results being derived from a large patient outcome series raise important issues both for research and clinical practice.     

Cyberpsychology, Human Relationships, and Our Virtual Interiors

Recent research suggests an "Internet paradox"—that a communications technology might reduce social involvement and psychological well–being. In this article I examine some of the limitations of current Internet communication, including those of access, medium, presentation , and choice , that bear on the formation and maintenance of social relationships. I also explore issues central to human meaning in a technological culture—those of the history of the self, of individuality, and of human relationships—and suggest that social forces, technological and otherwise, have increasingly eroded our social interconnectedness and even produced psychological fragmentation. Finally, by considering the psychology of privacy, subjectivity, and intimacy, I look at the historical and developmental processes of internalization by which we construct the "virtual interior" of mind. Understanding this link between human meaning and technological culture, in the form and pattern of our virtual interiors, may help us to see opportunities as well as dangers for the growth of our humanity, our ethics, and our spirituality.     

Sleep deprivation and sustained attention performance: integrating mathematical and cognitive modeling

A long history of research has revealed many neurophysiological changes and concomitant behavioral impacts of sleep deprivation, sleep restriction, and circadian rhythms. Little research, however, has been conducted in the area of computational cognitive modeling to understand the information processing mechanisms through which neurobehavioral factors operate to produce degradations in human performance. Our approach to understanding this relationship is to link predictions of overall cognitive functioning, or alertness, from existing biomathematical models to information processing parameters in a cognitive architecture, leveraging the strengths from each to develop a more comprehensive explanation. The integration of these methodologies is used to account for changes in human performance on a sustained attention task across 88 h of total sleep deprivation. The integrated model captures changes due to time awake and circadian rhythms, and it also provides an account for underlying changes in the cognitive processes that give rise to those effects. The results show the potential for developing mechanistic accounts of how fatigue impacts cognition, and they illustrate the increased explanatory power that is possible by combining theoretical insights from multiple methodologies.